Questions bloom in ‘Spring Awakening’

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Janina Bradshaw’s character, Martha (second from right), shows the other girls in “Spring
Awakening,” (from left) Tader Shipley, Mariah Burks, and Hope Quinn the bruises from being beaten by her
father. (Photo: Shane Hughes/Sentinel-Tribune)

"Spring Awakening," the title seems to demand an exclamation point."Spring
Awakening" evokes the innocence of the season for blossoming, just the right metaphor for adolescents
becoming aware of their emerging sexuality.The theme of the musical is innocence, innocence in all its
angst, roiling emotions, betrayals and folly.The 1891 German play by Frank Wedekind turned into contemporary
rock musical by Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater depicts in graphic terms the sexual awakening of young teens,
caught between childhood and the confusing demands of their bodies. They are precariously perched on the
verge of adulthood, if they live that long."Spring Awakening," directed by Dr. Michael Ellison
with musical direction by Jared Dorotiak, opens Thursday at 8 p.m. in the Donnell Theatre on the Bowling
Green State University campus and continues Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. with matinees Saturday and Sunday
at 2. Mature audiences only.The play is set in a provincial German town in the late 19th century. This is a
rigid society, full of secrets, short on joy, where parents protect their children’s innocence by keeping
them ignorant as long as possible. Stuffing their confused brains with Latin and sanctimonious Pablum. When
Wendla (Hope Quinn) asks her mother "I’m an aunt for the second time and I don’t know how it
happens," her mother (Dr. Cynthia Stroud) snaps: "What did I do to deserve this kind of
talk?"The rebel source of such information is Melchior (Chad Campbell), the brightest boy in the school
with a wide-ranging curiosity which at once makes him the golden boy, but also a troublemaker.But this
doesn’t keep him from being humiliated by the school master (Geoff Stephenson) when Melchior stands up for
his friend Moritz (Gregory Grimes), a poor student, doomed to fail.The family, school and church serve to
funnel their children into lives of conformity. That conformity is shown by having all the adults, more than
a dozen characters, played by Stephenson and Stroud. To their credit they bring out individual shades in
these multiple roles. Stroud even brings out the warmth of Melchior’s mother, though her loving tendencies
are hemmed in by society.We cheer on Melchior as he bashes against society’s strictures both with his
eloquence and with his actions. Yet unguided, even misguided, this leads to pain and misgivings.Melchior and
Wendla’s love story plays out in the society of their peers, all struggling with their own angels and
demons.Ernst (Austin Syar) is struggling with his attraction to men, feelings his friend, the more
aggressive Hanschen (Patrick Scholl) encourages.The girls are shocked when Martha (Janina Bradshaw) shows
the bruises from the beatings her father gives to her. What she doesn’t tell them is that he’s also sexually
abusing her. Ilse (Hannah Berry) has a similar tale. She leaves her family, sleeping at an artists colony,
showing the hope and dangers of escape.The characters – the cast also includes Tader Shipley, Mariah Burks,
Brett Mutter and Tyler Stouffer – express their inner selves by bursting into sweeping rock ballads.
Whenever affairs get tense, the actors sing. Grimes is striking in his solo turn "Don’t Do
Sadness" and a duet with Berry which brings together the pain of "Don’t Do Sadness" with the
longing for the simple joys of childhood, "Blue Wind."As strong as each individual voice is, the
way the chorus weaves throughout provides a context for characters’ individual plight. The men singing low
under the song "The Dark I Know Well" by Berry’s Ilse and Bradshaw’s Martha, adds to the
terror.After the pleading "Those You’ve Know" with solos by Campbell, Grimes and Quinn, the
musical ends fittingly with everyone in full voice adding to rich soaring harmonies. Those musical chords
are resolved. That is more than can be said of the fates of most of the characters and more than can be said
for the questions this deep, sometimes troubling musical poses.

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